May 03, 2016

Judge in Twitter says First Amendment does not give Twitter ability to reveal more details on surveillance orders

Politco reports a federal judge delivered a blow Monday to Twitter's drive to release more details on surveillance orders it receives, but the tech firm won a chance to try to reformulate its case. U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Rogers said the government has the power to prohibit the release of classified information, barring claims Twitter made in a lawsuit filed two years ago challenging as unconstitutional the limits federal officials have placed on publication of some statistics about surveillance demands. "The First Amendment does not permit a person subject to secrecy obligations to disclose classified national security information," Rogers wrote, citing a 1980 Supreme Court case about a former CIA analyst publishing the names of CIA personnel overseas.